Emmanuel Macron spent two days in the Middle East on October 24 and 25. A tour with great diplomatic ambitions to try to avoid escalation in the crisis between Israel and Hamas. This very sensitive trip led Emmanuel Macron to Jerusalem then to Ramallah, Amman and Cairo and each time the next step was a surprise.
Initially officially Emmanuel Macron went to Israel to demonstrate France’s support for the Jewish state after the terrible Hamas attack on October 7. A somewhat late visit since the main Western leaders, Joe Biden in the lead, had already been there. So, we clearly felt that Emmanuel Macron was looking for a way to give relief to this trip by going where the others had not gone. The first strategy was to play on the mystery, to only announce each new step and therefore each new interlocutor: the Palestinian Mahmoud Abbas, then King Abdullah of Jordan and finally the Egyptian President al-Sissi to make it an event. In the end the trip turned into a regional tour but nothing was guaranteed at the start. Although the tracks had been launched for a few days, everything was decided at the last moment and adjustments to the program were made in real time.
Serving Emmanuel Macron’s diplomatic objective
What the president wanted was to succeed in reintroducing into people’s minds the question of the need for a political settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian crisis, to provide perspective in a moment of extreme tension and heightened emotion. A way of recalling France’s historic position in favor of the creation of a Palestinian state while supporting Israel’s right to defend itself against terrorism. A balancing act, hence all the precautions taken so as not to hurt anyone. Emmanuel Macron moved forward step by step during this trip and even readjusted his approach after proposing a poorly understood regional and international coalition against terrorism. He changed his speech and his advisors were sent to nuance, explain, try to avoid the misstep.
Message to the French
With this trip, Emmanuel Macron also wanted to send messages to the French. The fear of the Head of State is the import of the conflict and in this tour, there was therefore a national dimension. It was necessary to reassure the Jews of France worried about a rise in anti-Semitism by condemning Hamas and at the same time address Muslims by emphasizing the future of the Palestinians and humanitarian aid to the populations of Gaza. A rebalancing operation that Emmanuel Macron carried out from capital to capital.